Two Words, Not One More

It's puzzling that Carrie Lam is spending so many days hobnobbing with Chinese officials over the border to discuss the content of her delayed Policy Address, when all she has to do to surprise and delight the people of Hong Kong is to condense it to just two simple words: "I resign".

Look Back in Danger

Four decades in Hong Kong have given me a great admiratiuon for the Hong Kong people (if not, alas, for those who govern them). Yet despite their hard work, intelligence, and dedication to principle, one quality is curiously lacking - they seem to be totally unaware that vehicles can travel backwards as well as forward.  Any driver in Hong Kong trying to manoeuvre into or out of a tight parking spot can be sure that the second they start reversing, some idiot pedestrian will walk across their path a few inches behind them, seemingly blithely unaware that they are actually moving.  I'm not sure what accounts for this blind spot - posasibly the fact that many Hongkongers lack driving experience - but you can be sure that if one of these people who put themselves in harm's way actually suffered an injury, they would immediately blame the poor driver for it and not their own lack of caution.

Mind how you go.

When in doubt, see Rule 2

 

We are the people our government warned us against

 

Nasal Intrusion

Though the government will no doubt proclaim its mass community testing programme for Covid-19 a magnificent triumph, I leave it to others to comment on whether a turnout of 1.7 million against a projected 5 million, with only a handful of positive test results, really qualifies as a success.

What I do wonder is whether any of the numerous test subjects pictured in the constant stream of propaganda pushing the scheme have given permisision for their depiction in this situation.  Surely one time you are entitled to expect a degree of privacy is when undergoing an uncomfortable and unsightly medical procedure probing one's oral cavities?

Given this, I wonder how it is that Chief Executive Carrie Lam (or her body double; it's impossible to tell from this angle) managed to get her own test photographed from behind?

Surely if others are expected to be photographed uncomplainingly with a swizzle stick deep up their nostrils, Carrie should let the public enjoy the sight of her own discomfort?

Bob-a-Job

The embattled Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is quoted as describing protesters against his rule as "people with a criminal past who are unemployed".  With that many unemployed in the country, it's not surprising he had to rig the last election to stay in power!  Let's hope that he himself soon joins the ranks of the unemployed so his people can look forward to a better future.

Be careful what you ask for

As in past years, the Hong Kong government is conducting a public consultation exercise on what should be in the Chief Executive's annual Policy Address.  This seems a particularly pointless exercise this year, as what the majority of people want is not only clearly unattainable under the current regime, but even to demand it is probably no longer legal.  Still, I am wondering what would happen if a million Hongkongers wrote in to say they wanted this year's address to consist of only two words: "I resign".

Return of the 4 o'clock fairytale hour

See here for an account of the police's rewriting of the Yuen Long attack story.